The invention relates to a tilt control mechanism for an office chair, and more particularly, to a tilt control having multiple tilting functions controlled by a single actuator.
Office chairs often include tilt controls which connect a seat assembly to a base and a back assembly to the seat assembly wherein relative tilting of the seat and back assemblies is controlled by the tilt control. Depending upon the tilt control mechanism, the tilt control may permit different combinations of forward and rearward tilting of the back assembly and/or the seat assembly. Often, known tilt controls may include separate control handles which are manually actuatable by a chair occupant to control forward and/or rearward tilting.
In such known tilt controls, the tilt control may include a tilt control handle which is actuatable to lockout rearward tilting wherein the back assembly may be locked in a normal upright position or a rearwardly tilted position disposed rearwardly of the normal upright position. Additionally, if a particular tilt control permits forward tilting, a second actuator handle may be provided to lockout forward tilting with the seat assembly being locked in the normal upright position or a forwardly tilted position. This is a general example of a tilt control, and other variations of tilt controls have also been provided which permit the user to control a variety of features of the tilt control.
For example, the tilt control disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,445 includes a control handle which controls a lock mechanism that is lockable in multiple positions. More particularly, the lock mechanism of the tilt control enables locking of the seat in a forward tilted, neutral, or a backward tilted position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,510 discloses another tilt control wherein an operating member is rotated in opposite directions to respectively lockout forward or rearward tilting and is raised vertically to permit simultaneous movement of the back-rest and seat thereof.
Other tilt controls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,743,065, 4,818,020, 5,464,274 and 5,577,807.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved tilt control for an office chair having a single actuator which controls multiple functions of the tilt control.
The invention relates to an office chair having seat and back assemblies operatively connected together by a tilt control. The tilt control permits forward and rearward tilting of the seat and back assemblies and includes a single actuator for controlling the forward and rearward tilting.
More particularly, the actuator handle is accessible by an occupant and is movable through three operative positions along an elongate actuator path. The actuator preferably is rotatable sequentially through the three operative positions. In the first operative position, both forward and rearward tilting is locked out, i.e. prevented, for example, when the back assembly is in a normal upright or nominal position. The actuator also is movable sequentially to a second operative position, and then to a third operative position. In the second operative position, normal chair operation is permitted wherein rearward tilting from the upright position is permitted but forward tilting is locked out. In the third operative position, both forward and rearward tilting is permitted.
This arrangement is easier to use than multiple handle chairs in that only one motion of a single actuator is required by the occupant, namely rotation of the actuator handle clockwise or counterclockwise through the three operative positions.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.